World's largest single-domed tropical greenhouse is coming to France

This article was originally published by The Spaces, a digital publication exploring new ways to live and work.

Designs have been unveiled for the largest single-dome greenhouse on the planet, set to spring up in France's Pas-de-Calais.

Tropicalia will span a colossal 215,000 square feet, and is designed by French architecture practice Coldefy & Associates. It will feature a double-insulated, transparent, shell-like roof on an unprecedented scale.

Tropicalia is expected to cost around $62 million and is a collaboration with energy company Dalkia. Credit: Courtesy Coldefy & Associates

The structure is conceived as a "bubble of harmony," says the practice. A kilometer-long pathway will run through Tropicalia, connecting a variety of tropical landscapes filled with flora and fauna, as well as a thundering 82-foot waterfall and an Olympic-size swimming pool stocked with Amazonian fish.

1/14 – Amazon headquarters - Seattle, U.S.

Amazon is currently constructing three glass 'spheres', which will contain treehouse meeting areas and around 3,000 species of plants. The design is by innovative design practice NBBJ. This will serve as the centerpiece for its new headquarters, set to open in 2018. Credit: NBBJ

While Tropicalia will leave a big physical mark on the Rang-du-Fliers landscape, its ecological impact is much smaller. Say the architects: "The project is (an) autonomous energy producer by the use of a double dome creating a air chamber heated by a greenhouse effect."

ETFE plastic and steel will be used to construct the greenhouse and it will bed down in the earth to make the most of natural insulation. Excess heat created by the complex will also be recycled for use in outlying buildings.

The structure is conceived as a "bubble of harmony." Credit: Courtesy Coldefy & Associates

Tropicalia is expected to cost around $62 million and is a collaboration with energy company Dalkia. Don't hop the channel just yet though -- the project isn't set to break ground until 2019, and will welcome its first guests in 2021.